Hello i am new here, i recently have been a but confused and need some advice. I had meningitis c at the age of 19, i spent 3 days in reanimation between life and death. I was very lucky to survive and i feel blessed. After i got conscious again i stayed a while in post reanimation for care. The doctors told me i had no sign of after effects and that i should recover just fine. I took their word and i have never seen a specialist afterwards.

I am now 20 years old and in good health but recently I noticed that my memory feels like deterioring. It feels like i can't recall informations and when i listen to someone i can sometimes instantly forget what the person was saying. I also feel that my speech isn't as good as it use to, i sometimes can't put my thoughts into words i'm getting lost in my words and can't explain properly what i want say. All this is really frustrating.

As i was told i had no after effects i thought it was a lack of mind practice or that i wasn't healthy enough. For a year after i got meningitis i spoke very little about it i just wanted to move on. Only this year i started to fundraise for meningitis now and wanted to spread awareness. By talking with other people who went through meningitis and reading other informations it made me realize that what i thought was a lack of mind practice might be after effects..

I feel really confused and a bit scared, i havent talk about this to my family or friends because i don't want to worry them without really knowing what is going on. I feel that if i had consequent after effects i should of notice way before or that a doctor would of told me ? Does anyone know about a similar situation ? I don't know what i should do and I would love to have someone's advice.

3 Replies

What your describing sounds very familiar. I have the unfortunate addition of kidney failure as well, but after my meningitis in 2005 I initially suffered total memory loss (bits did return, but it was terrifying)

I find I HAVE to write things down, IF I'm going to remember them, even then remembering to write things down, add appointments to my phone etc.. Its as though my brain takes things in and fails to file them.

If you can't talk to friends of Family I'd get back to meningitis now for help. For me counselling did help with dealing with my worries.. Maybe no so much the forgetfullness, but having someone neutral who understands can make a huge difference..

So sorry to hear about your post meningitis after effects, everything you mention are familiar, although drs wont describe lasting affects, they are real . My words get lost, I say something in a conversation & family gently or laughingly repeats to me what I said, NOT even close? Tiredness makes it worse. Chunks of memory are just gone, I also take notes ,keep diary, calendar, anything to remind myself. I love to read but can not retain information. Loud rooms of people , restaurants, stores, overwhelm my senses, and I need to leave? Be gentle on yourself, your family members probably have noticed, mine all did, but until I asked they never said anything to me. This disease undermines a persons confidence , know that people love you for who you are , take care. Sonner

I am 1yr post vm, I still experience short term memory loss, lose my cognitive skills as my day progresses, I know what I want to say but the words don't come to my mouth. I can't tolerate loud noise or bright lights. I can't drive at night due to dizziness, which gets worst as my day progresses. This is a very difficult illness. Just manage life, your normalcy is different. I take it a moment at a time.